USUAL SUSPECTS

If your working from home or home from work like I am currently, the summer and during the pandemic, it can be a most suitable time for a rewarding season to have a bird buffet in your backyard. I have no idea where my love for birds came from, but I really enjoy them. The longer days also give much more time to view their habits and their antics. And they do have antics. It may seem you don't also see birds as often in the summer at  feeders, and the reason is fewer birds visit, they get a little more secretive, and they raise sometimes two broods of nestlings. So while they raise their young they visit feeders only briefly. Above in the tree is Bonnie and Clyde. Doves are always in pairs.

The newest dove pair Victoria and Albert.

I attract my brood by all the different seeds and accompaniments I put out. Small generic seeds will attracts the sparrows, doves and  house and golden finch. Seed with dried fruit and nuts will attract the catbirds, cardinals, orioles and robins, even though, Robins I feel will dine mostly on worms and insects.  

This little nuthatch always cracks me up. They have a chuckling sound they make. Other seed I put out contains lots of nuts and peanuts, which nuthatches love, as do Woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, grosbeaks, and bluejays. Mix all these with those square suet's and you'll have a lot of variety.

Here's a mother sparrow with four hungry mouths. I noticed this summer birds tend to look like the adults, but yet are still being trained by their parents so they know how to fend for themselves.

When blueberries get put out, the Catbird show up quite quickly. I have seen two couples of them

A mother starling with two almost grown babies. I wonder what she's thinking in the below picture?

I've had a lot of cardinals this summer so far. They pretty much visit daily.

Sparrow

So far, two families of Red Bellied woodpeckers. They are definitely peanut and dried fruit eaters. This week, the babies were quite noisy with that squawking. Here's it's mother with one of the babies.

He's getting it! He was also getting the little ants!!!!

I love these blackbirds. Their eyes are so telling.

This is a thistle sock I have hanging from the roof line. Golden finch prefer these over a feeder first. The other two are general house finch.

Out in the one garden is this feeder. Finch love their thistle and sunflower seeds. I love their golden yellow color.

Nocturne returned along with a mate, Margaret. Nocturne is a raven, one of the only few around here I've seen. And he is very curious and gets actually pretty close. Yesterday I was out sitting with a cold beer and he landed on a chair across from me, just sitting on the back of it. If the sills get empty, he will sit on the window sill and tap the glass of the room I'm in to get the that little tray filled!!!!! I like him. I read they are highly intelligent. Plus he and his group will come in handy when I start my world domination. Bwahahahahahaha haaa ha!!!!! This was taken almost as close as your seeing it.

The bluebirds won't feed off my sills, but they are huge fruit eaters. My neighbor put this birdhouse up. I suspect they are checking out the accommodations before they set up house. They mostly stick to the woods edge.

And to my amazement while sitting out another day,  spotted the flying squirrel in the daylight!!!!! I have since named her Rocky...seems logical right?

 I think she may have tinkled here a bit! What would Duchess Deedles have to say? Most nights, late, she will be on the kitchen sill eating the peanuts and sunflowers seeds. This breed of flying squirrel are very nocturnal. She will be there for ages before she flies off to the huge tree in front of my window. I'm sure her nest is in there somewhere. This is one of the coolest thing to surface this summer. I 've not seen the fox since my return, but I know they are still here, as I can hear them at night screaming and playing around in the ivy beds. I came across these two on Thursday on a lovely walk on the grounds here. I am always touched when I can get so close to these animals. I do really believe they can sense if they are in danger. They sense your aurora, I'm certain.